UC Berkeley Press Release

UC Berkeley recommends appointment of new vice chancellor for post as the campus's chief administrative and financial officer

By Marie Felde, Media Relations | 21 December 2005

BERKELEY – University of California,
Berkeley, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau today (Wednesday, Dec. 21) announced
that he has recommended to the UC Board of Regents the appointment
of Nathan Brostrom as vice chancellor-administration, the campus's
chief administrative and financial officer.

Brostrom is expected to begin his new position on March 1, 2006, pending approval by the UC Board of Regents. He will manage the campus's annual operating budget of more than $1.3 billion. Further, he will be responsible for a division that is the largest provider of services to campus staff and a significant provider of services to UC Berkeley students.

Currently a managing director and co-head of the Western Region Public Finance group at J.P. Morgan Securities, Brostrom is a highly regarded public finance banker. He has extensive experience in public bond transactions, including serving as lead banker for the state of California on its $11.3 billion energy purchase bond program that emanated from the 2001 California energy crisis.

Since 1996, when he joined the securities firm, he has been involved with more than $70 billion in bond issues on behalf of government and not-for-profit corporations, including structuring nearly $4.3 billion in bonds for UC's campuses.

"In Nathan Brostrom we have a recognized expert in public finance, a creative and enthusiastic manager and a leader who cares deeply about the public mission of this great university, including most especially our historic commitment to academic excellence and social justice," said Birgeneau. "I am delighted that he has accepted our offer and look forward to working with Nathan in addressing the considerable financial and administrative challenges before us."

Brostrom, 41, will fill a new vice chancellor position that combines the duties of two previous vice chancellors, one in business and administrative services, and one in budget and finance. The position had been open for more than a year as the campus undertook a nationwide search for the combined position.

"I am honored and delighted to have been offered this opportunity. I have long been drawn towards Cal because of its recognized standards of excellence, and also because of the important public goals that it not only espouses, but that it practices," said Brostrom.

As vice chancellor--administration, he will be responsible for advising the chancellor and the executive vice chancellor and provost on all budget and resource management, health and human services and fiscal planning matters, both operational and capital. One of his first duties will be developing the '06-'07 fiscal year budget.

"In the coming years, the university must balance a difficult triad of challenges -- maintaining excellence in education and in research while traditional avenues of financial support decline, yet still remaining welcoming and accessible to all Californians," he said of the challenges before the administration. "I am excited to work on these challenges with the talented and diverse faculty and staff at Cal."

The divisions he will oversee comprise 1,100 employees and include areas of campus operations ranging from human resources and health services to intercollegiate athletics, and public safety to budget and finance.

"One of my goals will be to help foster an environment in which every person who works at UC Berkeley can feel a part of this awesome and noble mission," he said, adding that one of his first priorities will be to put a management team in place that supports the divisions' employees and the administration of the campus.

Brostrom
holds a master's degree in public and international
affairs from Princeton University and a B.A. from
Stanford University. A resident of Berkeley, he
is married to Caitlin Lempres Brostrom, a UC Berkeley
graduate who has lectured in the architecture
department. His first wife, Lisa Capps, who died in 2000, was a professor
of clinical psychology at UC Berkeley. The Brostroms are the parents
of six children.